If you have been following the Ravens for the past few months, you already know that Baltimore got rid of former OC Greg Roman and brought back-to-back NCAA champion and former Georgia OC Todd Monken to lead the Flock offense.
You might not be well versed in Monken's system, but as a simple description of it, let's say that the Ravens decided to part ways with Roman's only-rushing game to make way for a more spread/pass-happy scheme under Monden.
The results were a bit muddy in Week 1 even with the Ravens getting a win against the Houston Texans with Monken leading the way. That changed in Week 2, though, as the Ravens put on a sublime effort against the supposed AFC North favorites and went on to beat the Bengals 27-24 on the road.
Lamar Jackson logged an all-time high stat in Week 2
Of course, every offense starts and ends by the quarterback's play. In the case of Baltimore, that means that Lamar Jackson is at the center of it all, and that actually makes the utmost sense considering Lamar's passing and rushing prowess.
In Week 2, Jackson completed 24-of-33 passes for 237 yards, threw for a couple of touchdowns, avoided getting intercepted and sacked, and although the fumbled a ball that play was ruled off because of a penalty.
Not only did Jackson do that, but he also added 54 yards running to get this close to reaching 300 total yards on the day all by himself.
The most interesting thing was to watch Jackson operate under center for the largest number of times throughout his career. According to NFL's NGS Stats (h/t Ryan Mink), Lamar Jackson was under center "for 16 plays (23% of the snaps) Sunday," compared to last season's "11.5% of the snaps."
Lamar Jackson was under center for 16 plays (23% of the snaps) Sunday in Cincy, per @NextGenStats.
— Ryan Mink (@ryanmink) September 18, 2023
Last season, Jackson was under center on just 11.5% of his snaps. https://t.co/c2JKAIZRZT
This change was notable, and even if the bump up in percentages might not feel so big (just above 10 percentage points), the results were easy to spot.
Cincinnati was a bit lost defending Jackson and Todd Monken's playbook, and the new Ravens offensive coordinator put on a masterclass on Sunday to lead Baltimore to earn an upset on the road against the Bengals.
The Jungle wasn't expecting this Jackson, one that they hadn't seen in a while already as the former MVP had missed past games while injured. Speaking after the game, Harbaugh acknowledged that "We haven't done it a lot, but he's always been good at it," referring to Jackson starting plays under center.
"It's never been a problem with him under center," Harbaugh added. "I think it's something he does really well and going into the season it was part of the plan, to be under there more."
According to Pro Football Focus, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens might have tough assignement on Sunday as the two interior defenders of the Colts (DeForest Bucker and Grover Stewart) are ranked inside the top 8 players at the position through Week 2 of the 2023 season.